MDA provides and develops high end software for mission critical systems needing fail safe and high reliability standards. The software product is developed following a process which MDA has now mastered and made it applicable for the implementation of various mission critical projects requiring real time embedded systems or high end commercial applications. The group has developed software specifically for high profile missions such as the control software for Canadarm2 on board the International Space Station as well as the Antenna and Column Drive Unit Control Software for RADARSAT-2.

Real-Time Embedded Software

The Software Group has extensive experience developing real-time embedded software for processor platforms (from 80186 to PowerPC) on various operating systems (custom designed and VxWorks/Tornado). Software languages include both Ada and C and various development environments such as ICE and Rational Rose Tools have been used. Most of the embedded software was developed for mission critical systems and therefore was written and tested very rigorously. This type of experience working with emulators, test logs, and in developing utilities to assist in decoding, gives MDA an edge over the competition.

Test Software - SWIFT

During the process of validating flight software and testing electronic boxes, the software group continued to improve its test processes and finally developed a full Test Executive suite based on MS-Windows called SWIFT (Special Workstation for Integration and Formal Testing). This test set is used throughout MDA and has been packaged for sale to other companies. The test set allows test programs to be developed using Visual Basic or C/C++ and has features to allow full automation and printout of test results. This technology has increased testing reliability and cut down on test time and labor cost. The test executive's modularity allows it to be quickly adapted for many testing needs (from software to RF hardware) and has many instrument drivers making it a state of the art system. The group has performed automation of in-circuit emulators and developed utilities for simplifying unit tests.